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ALKS: Good news on Vivatrol and alcohol dependence drug ALKS-33
CHBT: Posts $0.31 per diluted share, up 131.6% y-o-y
BPHX: Top-line IBM Deal follows positive Q3 $0.05 EPS
Gaining 10.09% this morning is Alkermes Inc., (ALKS) http://www.alkermes.com/ currently trading in the $9.01 range. ALKS is a heavily traded stock. This stock, at this price, is a short-term (6 Mo) 'Buy' for me. ALKS is $4 off its 52-week high of $13.16 set on 03-26-09. The chart shows the stock dip from $9 to $7.50 is over and it's back up to $9. I think its floor is at $8.50 so even if it falls to that level, a 50 cent loss per share is tolerable.
ALKS has spiked to $10-10.50 in the last three months, so there is some support at that level, but if its Vivatrol drug passes Phase III trials and its ALKS-33 drug moves into Phase III, I think it can top its 52-week high in the first quarter of 2010. It's not only the pipeline at ALKS that I like, but the Company returned $0.84 diluted EPS on $295 million in revenues in the trailing twelve months of the 'great recession'.
Yesterday and today ALKS released news on its drugs.
Today, ALKS announced the beginning of a Phase II clinical study of ALKS-33, a potential treatment of alcohol dependence and other central nervous system disorders. The study will assess the safety and efficacy of multiple doses of ALKS 33 in patients with alcohol dependence.
"The advancement of ALKS 33 in the clinic is an important step as we continue to build our proprietary pipeline, which is based on drugs that we believe have a high likelihood of clinical and commercial success," said Elliot Ehrich, M.D., CMO at ALKS.
That's another reason I like ALKS, the drugs they have and have in trials deal with widespread afflictions, like alcoholism, opiate drug addiction, diabetes and bi-polar disorders, and their market potential is huge.
Yesterday, ALKS released news on late stage clinical trials about its drug Vivitrol, which is used to help alcoholics quit drinking and also helps opioid addicts stay off drugs. Subjects who were injected with Vivitrol once per month were more likely to pass a urine test than patients who received a placebo injection and the drug also met secondary goals, as subjects reported a lower craving for drugs, and half of the subjects were clean in at least 90% of their drug tests. The subjects were addicted to opioid drugs including heroin. ALKS said it will ask for approval to market Vivitrol for opioid addiction in the first half of 2010.
The ALKS Pipeline
ALKS also manufactures Risperdal Consta for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and is developing Exenatide for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. ALKS has ALKS-29, an oral combination therapy for the treatment of alcohol dependence; ALKS-27, an inhaled trospium product that is in a Phase IIa study for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and ALKS-36, a co-formulation of an opioid analgesic and RDC-1036 for the treatment of pain. 'Buy'.
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ALKS 3-Month ALKS 1-Month
Gaining 7.85% this morning is China-Biotics Inc., (CHBT) http://www.chn-biotics.com/ currently trading in the $14.98 range. CHBT easily surpassed its 3-Month average daily trading volume of 265,475 shares early in today's session on news of its Q2 2010 earnings. CHBT is also off its 52-week high by approximately $4 ($19 on 09-29-09) and there's money to be made here. CHBT has the products and has turned into a selling machine.
There's a $13 stability factor on CHBT and it seems to spike up to $18 on good news and then falls fast on bad or no news. If you like this Company, buy on the dips and you'll get a $15-16 stock for a discount. This is also a short-term 'Buy' for me. Partly on its past performance (which is no guarantee) of $1.32 in diluted trailing twelve month EPS and partly on its Q3 2010 numbers.
CHBT had Q2 2010 net sales of $17.1 million, a 49.2% increase y-o-y and the grosses were outstanding: profits up 51.5% y-o-y and margins up 71% y-o-y. And an adjusted EPS of $0.31, up 131.6% y-o-y.
As I said, CHBT has turned into a top-line, selling machine and noted in their Q3 2010 filing was the deal signing of four new bulk additive customers.
Six Month Results in a Nutshell
Net sales for the first six months of the 2010 fiscal year were $32.6 million, up 42.4% from $22.9 million in the same period the prior year. Gross profit was $23.1 million, or 70.9% of sales, up 43.0% from gross profit of $16.1 million, or 70.6% of sales, in the first six months of fiscal 2009. Diluted EPS were $0.58 compared with $0.37 per diluted share in Q2 2010.
"Demand for our bulk additive products has been significant, which should result in revenue growth of at least 50% during the 2010 fiscal year," said the CHBT CEO. CHBT makes and sells probiotics to improve intestinal microbial balance.
CHBT 3-Month BPHX 3-Month
Gaining 6.59% this morning is BluePhoenix Solutions LTD., (BPHX) http://www.bluephoenixsolutions.com/ which is currently trading in the $2.93 range. BPHX easily topped its 3-Month daily trading average this morning. BPHX has a 52-week high of $3.97 set on 09-24-09. The stock seems to find solid support at the $3 level and at the $3.60 level. A mixed quarter seemed to tip the stock off its 52-week high, but news like the Company reported today can only push it back towards that $3.60 threshold. This is a near-term 'Watch Closely' stock for me.
BPHX announced today that it has been awarded a multi-million dollar modernization contract for a global Tier 1 retail chain by IBM. That's a Big Deal. IBM...
BPHX will modernize the databases from legacy IMS and VSAM systems to an IBM DB2 environment giving improved productivity with a lower cost of ownership.
"Our partnership with IBM continues to strengthen as we continue to work together to modernize their customers to state of the art IBM technology," the BPHX CEO said. BPHX has other big names on their client list: Aflac, Capita Group, Citigroup. BPHX is a global concern with 14 offices in the U.S., Russia, Europe, Asia, Australia and Israel.
BPHX Q3 2009
BPHX revenues for Q3 09 were $18.7 million, a decrease of 2% from $19.1 million in the previous quarter and 15% from $22.0 million in Q3 2008. Net income on a non-GAAP basis for Q3 09 was $1.0 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared to $1.2 million or $0.06 per diluted share in the previous quarter, and compared to a net loss of $1.4 million or ($0.06) per share for Q3 08. Surely an impressive comeback since 2008.
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